When is Vesak in 2009?

Answer 1

Buddha Jayanti or also known as Buddha Purnima is the most sacred festivals of Buddhist. Buddha Purnima (Buddha Birthday) is celebrated in remembrance Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha is the founder of Buddhism. This day is the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha. It falls on the full moon of the fourth lunar month (month of Vaisakh) i.e. April or May. This day commemorates three important events of Buddha's life

- His birth in 623 BC.

- His enlightenment i.e. attainment of supreme wisdom, in 588 BC.

- His attainment of Nirvana i.e. the complete extinction of his self at the age of 80.

This day is a thrice blessed day. Lord Buddha is considered the ninth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu (Preserver in the Hindu Holy Trinity of Creator-Preserver-Destroyer). Gautam Buddha "lived and died in about the fifth century before the Christian era". Buddha means "enlightened one" - someone who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions.

Gautam Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are solely to liberate human beings from the misery and sufferings of life.

According to the Buddhism, sorrow and desire are the main cause of all the evil and suffering of this world. Lord Buddha advocated the Eightfold Path consisting of precepts like right conduct, right motive, right speech, right effort, right resolve, right livelihood, right attention and right meditation to gain mastery over suffering. It is only after following this path one can reach the ultimate aim of Nirvana. Nirvana is the transcendental state of complete liberation. Gautama Buddha lived and taught in northern India in the 6th Century B.C.

Answer 2

Vesak, or also called, "Buddha's Birthday", is celebrated on the first full moon in the month of May. Although it varies depending on the type of calendar used and the location on the globe it will fall early in May. This year it will predominantly be celebrated on 9 May. Although in Thailand it will be on 8 May. For india, it is 2 may.

Answer 3

The most important day for Buddhist is Wesak Day when we remember His birth, His enlightenment and His death. Wesak Day is around the 15 day of the 4th moon in lunar calender. However, in lunar calender there is possible leap month, i.e. we may have two consecutive 4th moon (4th month) or two 9th month, and so on. Should we have a double 4th month, then Wesak Day will be commonly observed during the month of May (universal calender). For example, if the first 4th month falls within the month of May, then we do not observe the 2nd 4th month(possibly late May or early June).
I found different years cited as Buddha's birth year. They were 560, 563, 564, 623 and 624 BCE. Almost all sources cited the full moon of May as the birth date, although 2 sources cited April 8. The May full moons for these years are: May 7, May 11, May 21, May 14 and May 25. April 8 was a full moon in 560 BCE. The Cambridge and Oxford histories of India accept 483 B.C as the date of Buddha's nirvana. He was 80 years old when he died, so this puts his birth year at 563 BCE. If we accept 563 BCE as Buddha's birth year, his birth date would be May 11. However, in January 2006 an Indian historian challenged the historical assertion that Buddha was born between 560-624 BCE. He cites evidence that Buddha was born in 1887 BCE. Assuming he was born on the May full moon, his date of birth would be May 8, 1887 BCE. from http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=10,2190,0,0,1,0: "author Kota Nityananda Sastry in his latest book 'Age of Lord Buddha' makes a critical appreciation of available data compiled by Western historians who, he thinks, made a mess of Indian history. Sastry quotes his father Kota Venkatachelam's treatise 'Age of Buddha, Mililnda & Amtiyoka', which establishes that Buddha lived between 1887 B.C and 1807 B.C. Venkatachelam's book 'The Plot in Indian Chronology' had gone into the history and the missing links in the chronology of events in Indian history. Sastry states that Western scholars arbitrarily skipped 12 centuries of Indian history because their 'hypothesis' about Alexander's invasion did not match with centuries-old Indian chronology." And in my opinion, this sounds like just the sort of thing that eurocentric British historians would do. "The author asserts that Buddha was the contemporary of Kshemajit, Bimbisara and Ajatasatru, the 31st, 32nd and 33rd kings of Magadh respectively. This has been corroborated by the Puranic as well as Buddhist historical evidence, he adds. Ultimately, Dr Sastry quoting evidences comes to the conviction that Lord Buddha was born in 1887 B.C and attained Nirvana in 1807 B.C." see http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=10,2190,0,0,1,0 Litzi T. Hartley, Naperville IL; www.acc-dupage.com; info@ acc-dupage.com Comment on the above: It's interesting the apparent connection with the cycle of the moon phases. The same connection to heavenly movements (sun, moon, planets) has been found for other key religious figures. If you have any more information on Buddha and celestial movements, it would be facinating to read it.

Answer 4

Buddha day refers to the birthday of the Buddha, in Myanmar known as the full moon day of Kasone.

On that day, people go to the pagodas where they pour water over the bodhi-tree , over which the (future-)Buddha enlightened and attained Buddha-hood.

Answer 5

Buddha's birthday is celebrated on April 8.